“I could live with it, though. It might make my job harder, but not impossible.”
“I don’t know,” I said. “If word of this gets out and I’ve got nothing to show for letting you get away like this, I’ll be in real hot water.”
“I won’t tell anybody if you won’t.”
“There’s Vinta.”
“And she keeps insisting that her big aim in life is to protect you. Besides, she won’t be there if you go back. Or rather, there will be the real Vinta, having awakened as from a troubled sleep.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because you’ve left. She’s probably already off seeking you.”
“Do you know what she really is?”
“No, but I’ll help you speculate sometime.”
“Not now?”
“No, I’ve got to sleep some more. It’s catching up with me again.”
“Then let’s go over this deal one more time. What are you going to do, how do you intend to do it and what are you promising me?”
He yawned. “I stay here till I’m back in shape,” he said. “Then when I’m ready to attack the Keep I get in touch with you. Which reminds me, you still have my Trumps.”
“I know. Keep talking. How do you intend taking the Keep?”
“I’m working on it. I’ll let you know that too. Anyhow, you can help us or not at that point, as you see fit. I wouldn’t mind having another sorcerer with me, though. Once we’re in and she’s freed, I’ll tell you what I promised and you can take it back to Amber.”
“What if you lose?” I asked.
He looked away. “I guess there’s always that possibility,” he finally agreed. “Okay, how’s this? I’ll write the whole thing out and keep it with me. I’ll give it to you — by Trump or in person — before we attack. Win or lose, I’ll have paid my way with you.”
He extended his good hand and I clasped it.
“Okay,” I said.
“Then let me have my Trumps back, and I’ll be talking to you as soon as I get moving again.”
I hesitated. Finally, I drew out my pack, which was now grown quite thick. I shuffled out my own then along with a number of his and passed him what remained.
“What about the rest?”
“I want to study them, Luke. Okay?”
He shrugged weakly. “I can always make more. But give me back my mother’s.”
“Here.”
He accepted it, then said, “I don’t know what you’ve got in mind, but I’ll give you a piece of advice: Don’t screw around with Dalt. He’s not the nicest of guys when he’s normal, and I think there’s something wrong with him right now. Keep away from him.”
I nodded, then got to my feet.
“You’re going now?” he asked.
“Right.”
“Leave me the ladder.”
“It’s all yours.”
“What are you going to tell them back in Amber?”
“Nothing — yet,” I said. “Hey, you want me to bring some food up here before I go? Save you a trip.”
“Yeah. Good idea. Bring me a bottle of wine, too.”
I went back and got him a load of provisions. I dragged in the sleeping bag also.
I started up the ladder, then paused. “You don’t know your own mind on this yet,” I said, “do you?”
He smiled. “Don’t be too sure of that.”
When I got to the top I stared at the big boulder that had once sealed me in. Earlier, I’d thought of returning the favor. I could keep track of the time, come get him when he was back on his feet. That way, he couldn’t pull a disappearing act on me. I had decided against it, though, not only because I was the only one who knew he was here and if something happened to me he’d be dead. Mainly, it was because he wouldn’t be able to reach me with my Trump when he was ready to move, if I kept him fully confined. That’s what I told myself, anyhow.
I stooped and caught hold of the boulder, anyway, and pushed it nearer the opening.
“Merle! What are you doing?” — from below.
“Looking for fishing bait,” I answered.
“Hey, come on! Don’t…”
I laughed and pushed it a little nearer.
“Merle!”
“Thought you might want the door closed, in case it rains,” I said. “But it’s too damned heavy. Forget it. Take it easy.”
I turned and jumped. I thought the extra adrenaline might do him some good.
Chapter 8
When I hit the ground I kept going, back to the place from which I had conjured the ladder, out of sight from several directions.
I withdrew one of the blank cards. Time was running.
When I fished out the pencil, I discovered that its point had broken. I unsheathed my blade, which was about the length of my arm. I’d found another use for the thing.
A minute or so later I had the card before me on a flat rock, and I was sketching my room back at the Arbor House, the forces of the Logrus moving through my hands. I had to work deliberately, getting the proper feeling of the place into the drawing. Finally, when it was finished, I stood. It was right, it was ready. I opened my mind and regarded my work until it became reality. Then I walked forward into the room. Just as I did I thought of something I wanted to ask Luke, but it was too late.
Beyond the window, the shadows of the trees were stretching into the east. I had obviously been gone for most of the day.
When I turned I saw a sheet of paper upon the now made-up bed, secured against breezes by the edge of a pillow. I crossed to it and picked it up, removing the small blue button which lay atop it before I did so.
The writing was in English. It said. PUT THE BUTTON IN A SAFE PLACE TILL YOU NEED IT. I WOULDN’T CARRY IT AROUND TOO MUCH. I HOPE YOU DID THE RIGHT THING. I GUESS I’LL FIND OUT PRETTY SOON. SEE YOU AROUND.
It was unsigned.
Safe or not, I couldn’t just leave it there. So I wrapped the button in the note and put it in my pocket. Then I fetched my cloak from the closet and slung it over my arm.
I departed the room. The latch being broken, I left the door standing wide. I stopped in the hallway and listened, but I heard no voices, no sounds of movement.
I made my way to the stairs and headed down. I was almost to the bottom before I noticed her, so still did she sit, there beside the window to my right, a tray of bread and cheese, a bottle and a goblet on a small table at her side.
“Merlin!” she said suddenly, half rising. “The servants said you were here, but when I looked I couldn’t find you.”
“I was called away,” I said, descending the final stair and advancing. “How are you feeling?”
“How do you — what do you know about me?” she asked.
“You probably don’t remember anything that happened during the past couple of days,” I replied.
“You are right,” she said. “Won’t you sit down?”
She gestured at the empty chair at the other side of the small table.
“Please join me.” She indicated the tray. “And let me get you some wine.”
“That’s all right,” I said, seeing that she was drinking the white.
She rose and crossed the room to a cabinet, opened it and took out another goblet. When she returned she poured a healthy slug of Bayle’s Piss into it and set it near my hand. I guessed it was possible they kept the good stuff for themselves.
“What can you tell me about my blackout?” she asked. “I’d been in Amber, and the next thing I knew I was back here and several days had gone by.”
“Yes,” I said, taking up a cracker and a bit of cheese. “About what time I did you become yourself again?”
“This morning.”
“It’s nothing to worry about — now,” I answered. “There shouldn’t be a recurrence.
“But what was it?”
“Just something that’s been going around,” I said, trying the wine.
“It seems more like magic than the flu.”